Untitled - Sexey's School Moodle

REVIEW OF SECONDARY SOURCES
This investigation originated in 1998 when I discovered Bret Easton Ellis’
American Psycho. Because of its transgressive nature, the novel had a deep and profound
impact, not only on a visceral level, but also on my burgeoning intellect, for it embodied
what I believed “great” literature was about: a form of cultural production which was
both radical and rebellious, challenging and dangerous, a text intended to shock and stir
the reader out of his or her complacency into a state of reflection and introspection, while
at the same time challenging traditional hierarchies of thought, taste, and value. The text
had already been chosen yet I had to decide on a suitable theoretical framework under
which its potential could be fully investigated. On the one hand, the concept of literary
canons would let to discuss the ways in which texts are awarded prominence in a given
cultural context and labeled as “great” and/or “a classic.” On the other, an exploration of
the notion of transgression would permit to determine the ways in which a text that is
considered to cross boundaries and challenge traditional artistic and social conventions
are capable of entering literary canons that have historically been heavily reliant upon
criteria that stress moral righteousness and social conformity. Once the theoretical
framework was determined it was decided that adding another text would better illustrate
my thesis and I finally settled on Matthew Lewis’ 1796 Gothic novel The Monk. This
text would prove to be particularly well-suited to illustrate the intersections between
transgression and literary canons, for it would not only provide a historical perspective on
the process of canon-formation but also explore the interactive dynamics between
canonicity and transgression as critical perceptions of taste and value vary over time and
corresponding literary periods.
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